jeudi 11 août 2016

It takes less than a second to mine diamond ore with an iron pickaxe in Minecraft, but how long would it take to mine this stuff in real life? The channel Whats Inside dives into this exact question, taking a chunk of real-world diamond ore, and trying to mine it with actual pickaxes. As expected, it doesn't go as fast as in-game, but the results are pretty interesting nonetheless. One thing that stands out early: naturally occurring diamonds usually aren't blue or turquoise, but yellowish or clear. Neat!

Do they eventually find any diamonds in that ore? We will find out soon!

Minecraft: Wii U Edition has been available for some time, but it has always lacked something the XBOX version in particular already has: feeling like the console it is played on. XBOX Edition has a number of packs themed around popular titles on the console, but why not the Wii U version? Why not, indeed!

As the trailer gave away (especially if you watched it before reading this), a free Mario Mash Up pack is on its way to Minecraft: Wii U Edition. It has a Mario-themed world, 16 original songs from the insanely popular Mario 64, a specific Mario-themed texture pack, and a ton of skins featuring your favorite Mario characters. In total, there are over 40 characters to play as. As one might expect, the two titular plumbers and the princesses are included, but Mojang even packed in some of the more folk like Kamek (the named magical Koopa Troopa wizard), one of the Hammer Bros, and that pernicious plant, Petey Pirahna. It’s a delightful mix, all in all.

All existing owners of Minecraft: Wii U Edition will get the pack on May 17th as a free update, but it will also come with the retail version of Minecraft: Wii U Edition, which is due to appear in-stores from June 17th. The disc comes in a box, which are notoriously easy to gift-wrap (wink wink).

Both the digital and the retail version of Minecraft: Wii U Edition costs $29.99, 30 golden coins, or the equivalent in your region.

Weather. It exists in Minecraft, albeit in a simplistic form (rain, or no rain), and rains about as frequently as the real-world UK. Even so, it's a pretty basic system, and doesn't accurately model any sort of climate pattern. What if you wanted actual weather patterns? Storms building visibly in the distance, different weather for different regions, and massive natural disasters? All of that is insideWeather, Storms, & Tornadoes, by Corosus! It packs a ton of features in an easy-to-use package:

- Localized weather! See rain and nastier storms coming in from a distance- Replaces vanilla clouds with custom particle-based ones that always shift around- Replaces rain and snowfall with a particle-based one that blows in the wind- Rain clouds build up moisture from water and moist biomes- Stormfront system uses biome temperature differences to create nasty storms- Improved look of storms from old weather mod- Forecast block that projects the active storms on a grid- Machine block that can create various types of storms at that location- Deflector block that can destroy storms within a 150 block radius to protect your creations- Wind Vane to show the direction of the wind (Model made by Razz of DecoCraft)- Anemometer to show the speed of the wind- User friendly GUI to enable/disable the most common features, comes with advanced options- Scenes enhanced with falling leaf particles and waterfall effects- Trees make blowing in wind sound, waterfalls make strong water sounds- Can enhance snowfall with more gradual smooth buildup (default off, memory hungry!)

Want to try this out for yourself? Head on over to the download page, and get ready to have some real weather in your Minecraft world!

Element Animation - creators of the ever-popular Villager News series, among other things - has put together an amusing music video montage of everyone's favorite underachieving villagers! Telling a curious story of the villagers going through a...well, a montage, this video comes with a unique new song, and all the charm we've come to expect from the poor villagers. Enjoy!

Game Theorists have touched on Minecraft before, talking about the physiology of creepers. This time, they dive into something a little more cerebral: the somewhat cryptic and contentious ending of Minecraft! There isn't much I can say without spoiling the whole thing, and it's definitely a hefty watch at fifteen minutes, but if you have some time, it's an interesting examination of the ending which has left many players stumped. Enjoy!

Eurovision might be over, but that doesn't mean the fun has to end! Why not host one of your own, using the same stage featured in the event? Mojang teamed up with FyreUK and SVT (a Swedish TV channel) to build the Eurovision stage in Minecraft for PC (the Java version), and it's pretty solid. Building it to-scale does lose some of the finer details (as does happen with large blocks and small items), but it's a strong approximation of the actual stage, and is more than enough to host some pretty killer shows!

To use the map, download and unzip the map file, then place the resulting folder in the Saves bit of your game directory. A quick way to find the game directory is to click Edit Profile then Open Game Directory from the launcher.

International pricing has always been a tricky subject. Currency changes value constantly, and in differing amounts and directions across the globe. Video games are definitely a global product, so keeping up with the base sale price of the game in various regions can be tricky sometimes. That said, Mojang is updating the price of Java Minecraft in select areas, to bring the overall price of the game in line with the pricetag in the US, starting on May 23rd, 2016. For some regions, this may bring the local price of the game up a bit, so if you don't already have a copy, now might be a good time to grab one, depending on where you are located!

Some "old price" entries may be blank, which only means the game wasn't sold in the local currency. That will change soon!

So, what countries' prices are changing, and what are they changing to?

Country

Currency

Old Price

New Price

US

USD

26.95

26.95

Australia

AUD

25

35

Brazil

BRL

-

99

Canada

CAD

28

35

Switzerland

CHF

23

23

China

CNY

165

165

Denmark

DKK

149

180

Europe

EUR

19.95

23.95

UK

GBP

17.95

17.95

Hong Kong

HKD

210

210

Norway

NOK

149

229

New Zealand

NZD

32

40

Poland

PLN

80

100

Russia

RUB

1400

1900

Sweden

SEK

169

225

Taiwan

TWD

800

800

Japan

JPY

-

3,000

Korea

KRW

-

30,000

These price changes are ONLY for Java (desktop) Minecraft, not portable or console versions

The long wait is over! The short wait is also over, but no one talks about that as much. It's just not as interesting to say, "I've been waiting for a few minutes, from the time I was thinking about waiting until now!" Waiting is hard.

So, what wait relates it's weight in greatness? This one - the very first ever snapshot for 1.10!

FEATURES

Polar bears in cold biomes, grown ups and cubs

Structure blocks for map makers and another new technical block to work with them

Technically they are not fossils, but that’s what we call one of the new features

New auto-jump feature, can be turned on and off in the game settings

Some new blocks in the nether, one of them extremely hot

A new hostile enemy in hot and dry areas

Some relatively broken uses of relative coordinates are fixed and should work relatively well now

Use of absolute coordinates is absolutely identical to how it worked in older versions of Minecraft

Endermen started invading another dimension, no idea what they are up to

Changed abandoned mineshafts in mesa biomes, there seems to be something shiny inside*

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, then they don't dance, and they're no friends of mine.

To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (See the “new profile” dialog).

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

You're a hardcore player, right? Maybe you're more down-to-earth, more laid back? No matter how you play, the Biome Settler Pack has a skin to match your style. 24 new skins are packed into this pack, just for Pocket and Win 10 players.

This is the second Biome Settlers pack by Mojang; the first featured skins themed around the Forest, Tundra, and Desert biomes. This pack is more oriented around players who call the Nether their home, whether it be punching ghasts, or just chilling with some nether wart farms.

Ready to give them a try? Head into the Skins menu in-game, and give them a go!

While most Minecraft players are already settled in with their preferred platforms, it's time to welcome another country into the fold - China! Pocket and PC editions will see distribution through NetEase Inc, who will be Mojang's affiliate for the region. Neat!

Some quotes from Mojang and NetEase on the topic:

Jonas Martensson, Mojang

We’ll always embrace opportunities to bring Minecraft to new players around the world, widening our community, and giving us a new perspective on our game. NetEase understand our long-term vision for Minecraft and support Mojang’s ideals, so we’re delighted to have them on board. We look forward to welcoming China’s builders and adventurers to the world of Minecraft.

William Ding, CEO/founder of NetEase, Inc.

We are excited to bring Minecraft to Chinese audiences, and expect our large online community to embrace this preeminent game. With our deep understanding of the Chinese market and our ability to successfully launch world-renowned online and mobile games, we offer a strong platform for the introduction of Minecraft to China’s vast user base. We believe this cooperation could leverage the strengths of both Mojang and NetEase, as well as provide the world’s largest audience with a superior user experience.

Minecraft has always had one of the largest and best gaming communities in the world, and our family now expands to include our friends in China. Welcome!

Many of us are years-long veterans of Minecraft, if not video games in general. While trying to find the most efficient monster farms, crazy mods, and intense tournaments, it can be easy to forget that, at one point, every one of us was new to the idea of gaming.

This video is a pretty charming look at someone (specifically, Jordan's mother) learning the game for the first time, as we all once did. Quite a difference from what we're used to, isn't it? Enjoy!

Back in January, we took a look at the mind-bending Beyond Perception map by Mihro and MinecraftSpace, and it was pretty crazy! Today, we look at its fun-but-headache-inducing sequel,Beyond Perception 2! Released last week, BP2 follows in the tradition of the first by pitting the player against two-tone puzzles that are oddly challenging. At first glance, the simple color scheme suggests something the player can just blow through, but it's far from easy.

The 1.10 snapshots just keep coming! This week's snapshot is a little feature-light, but carries with it a truckload of bug-fixes. The initial snapshot had many bugs, but so many were reported that they were addressed quickly. Awesome! As bugs are the main focus here, it is a good time to mention that the bug tracker has a search function, so anyone reporting bugs can easily see if a bug they have discovered has a ticket already. Be sure to search first!

Of particular note: there are a number of sound effects missing, both in the prior snapshot, and this one. This is not a bug! One of the joys in adding new content is adding all of the new parts to it, sound included. Missing sounds will be added later on, no worries! Having said that, the bugs were many, and here is what was fixed:

BUGFIXES

Bug MC-10046] - Random destination routine has a small statistical tendency to move more north west (fix included)

Please report any and all bugs you find in Minecraft to bugs.mojang.com. If nobody reports a bug, they might become self-aware, and make the toasters talk to us!

To get snapshots, open your launcher and press the “New Profile” button. Call it “snapshots” and check the box saying “Enable experimental development snapshots” and save. To switch to the normal version, you can select it in the dropdown at the bottom left corner of the launcher. Back up your world first or run the game on in a different folder (See the “new profile” dialog).

Snapshots can corrupt your world, please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

Battle - it's both a term, and a name for the upcoming free mini-game for consoles! Much as the name suggests, battle is a big part of it - players face off in a last-player-standing deathmatch. While it shares some similarities with the myriad types of survival games, Battle is much more fast-paced. It will come with 3 maps right out of the gate, and is tuned with 4-8 players in mind. Pretty cool!

For console players in particular, these ready-made maps sidestep many of the problems associated with building maps of this type, with loot tables, countdowns, and the like already taken care of. It's as plug-and-play as you can get!

Later on, more minigames will be released, each for $2.99 (and equivalents)

16w21b released not long ago, with a few more fixes added to the already impressive pile. All of this bug talk lately has me thinking - what would bugs (the insect-type bugs) be like in Minecraft? Other than silverfish, no bugs of note exist in the core game. There are dozens of mods that add bugs in their own way (there are some who get excited simply at the mention of bees), which begs the question: what insects would be neat to see in the core game?

It's a deceptively complex question. When considering bugs to add, we have to consider more than just how neat they are: what do they do? What impact do they have on the environment, if any? Friendly or hostile? If hostile, should they do significant damage? How big should they be?

Let's use an example: For this test, I want to add giant dragonflies to the game. How giant is "giant"? If we go on dragonflies that were common in the Jurassic era, one common variety had a wingspan of about 2 feet (60 centimeters). Steve is about 6'4" (just a hair shy of 2 meters) tall, which makes this insect about 1/3 his size. For a rough comparison, it should just about reach his knee, stretching vertically (head to tail) from the ground. We can assume the wingspan is about the same.

Dragonflies generally eat insects, so we know they are carnivores. While the above example likely won't eat Steve, it could still bite him, much as the silverfish do. Adding flight to that - the average flight speed of a dragonfly is about 10 mph (4.5m), with a higher max speed - means catching Steve unaware, even running, is a terrifying possibility. That takes care of whether it is passive or hostile, but what does it do?

What if the dragonfly were a natural predator of silverfish? Or, if the dragonfly were tameable, maybe it could detect blocks that silverfish hide in, and warn Steve. It might be possible to harvest the dragonfly's wings to make something akin to elytra wings. There are a lot of possibilities here!

ZeGame is a beautiful puzzle game with complex but rewarding puzzles in three dimensions. Move blocks, solve puzzles. However, this game - visually, at least - has no bearing whatsoever on traditional Minecraft. In all honesty, until I saw the command blocks explained, I wasn't entirely convinced this was an entirely different game, and this was a big prank! It is quite real, and you can play it inside Minecraft. Crazy!

Made for 1.9.4, ZeGame is a mind-bending puzzler where you try to find solutions using the differently-colored blocks in playing field. Grey blocks restrict movement, and the camera can be rotated to change how and where your block moves. It looks simple (and starts simply enough), but gets progressively more challenging with each advancement. Mind-bending!

You can play ZeGame on Realms right now with no downloads, or grab the map for 1.9.4 Enjoy!